Needle-selector jacqueard for knitting machines



Sept. 18, 1928. 1,684,586

K. HOWIE NEEDLE SELECTOR JACQUARD FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 5,1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Egia.

In uen for" Kenneth Jiawi Ai-lys.

Sept.j1 8, 192s.

. 1,684,586 K. HOWIE NEEDLE SELECTOR JACQUARD FOR KNITTING MACHINES'Sheets-Sheet 3 Jfi znnel'h Jfo'wj Patented Sept. 18, 1928.

UNITED? Kflliwmii mm t w e Emmet mes T w mwm CO., OF NORRISTOWN,PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF 11i.NNSYIKTANIA.v

nnnnLn-sELEoToR Jeanna-Rn non KNITTING iiiacninns.

Application and April 5, 1927'. Serial no. srcs.

In application for Letters Patent of the United States filed by me 19,1926, No. 110,164 I disclose a jacqii'ard or pattern mechanism for alznittingr machine compris ing a series of unattached toothed platesarranged in a stack or stacks, Which'plates are individually movedup' tothe needle bed to control the operation of knitting or tucking on aseries of needles embraced between the ends of the series of teeth onthe plates, each plate, after being used, being restored to thecolumnfor stacli of plates totakc its place the series forpresent'ationto the needles in the order prescribed,

One improvement n the present invention consists in constrii c'ting theplate me a:

zines so that they, witli' the series of plates carried thereby, mayhandledas one body. The magazines are reniovably attached to the machineso that any one of them may be removed. They are adapted to hold theplates'iii proper order Whenso removed, that they, together with theserie's'of plates, maybe retu'rnedlto the machine as one body andseenred in place.

Other features of improvement Will-ape following description and pearfrom the from the claims H In the accompanying" draW1ngs:'

Fig'nre lis' af vertica l sectional view of a portion of the mach neshowlng one of the 'mag'azines in its relation, to the needle bed orcylinder.

Fig; 1 isa detail'vieiv of one ofthe catch supports forthe plates: I Y Yi I Figs, 1 and 1 are detail VleWS of a pair ofplates in edgeview'sh'owing marks of identification in respect to which of the severalstacks the plates belong;

Fig. 2 is'a front viewbf one of thema'gazines inits'relation to theparts of the ma chine which support it.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of one ofthe maga v zines shorting" platesindotted lines and stops for the plates.

Fig. is a bottom planviei f of certain" guide rails for the magazinesand illustrat ing one of the stops tor the upper plate of the'stack whenmoved up to the'needle bed.

Fig. 5 is a View in section oftherailsand stop of Fig. 45, looking inthe direction of the ar ow and on the line 55.

6 is a View of one 01 the magazines removed and in section. I

Fig. 7 is detached View of one of the toothed" plates. 7 7 gig 8 sh ows' a. plate litter operating cam. the magazines comprise vert cal guides24* Which control and gtiide the plates in their upward movement at tlecolnnin B,

' Other Vertical gdides 24 direct the plates in 60 of s ibstantially I?angle to the side;

walls 25. of the nagazine, these'faces serving as guides for the platesin their.

dropping movement, conforming as they do to the angular ii-ont'portionsjl'li of the, plates! The plates have notches at: 10?. theirrear edges to accommodatethe verti i cal supplemental guides 5'5 The,upper endsof the. rails .60 serve to "guide the plates in theirretracting movement fltroinvhthein innermost to their outermostpositions-and holdthcin from dropping; until they have, been brought toa position whcrc their sidenotches register with the vertical guides 24.

lhese gu des 2 t, and 24* are attached to the side Walls 25 of themagazine, and these side Walls are connectedto zether by; a cross whichis attached thereto by screws i 'I Pi m sa one body constru'ct'ioitogether with the side Walls 25 and their attached vertical guides, sothat the magazine thus provided can be handled as onebody, and this istrue Whether the magazine is empty or full of plates.

in order to mount this magazine .(of' which there are four inthe presentmachine, like the lamglicationabove referred to) upon the machinc, ithas attached .to the lower: .100'

edges of its sidej ii alls rm'inersv,3'1 hating ribs or flanges adaptedto. be slid into parallel guide grooves of the lower magi-1' azinecarrying plate This platepin the present machine, moves Withtheneedlebed? It will be understood thatthe invention is not limited to'that typeof machine in which the needle bed moves and the cam box is stationary.Said plate is hung from an up:

per or ceiling plate 28 by the standards or hangers 25 bolted andscrewed to the lower and upper plates. The runners are attached to theside walls 25 of the magazine by screws 25 passing through upstandingflanges 34 on the runners, and embracing the lower edges of the sideplates, .These runners also have horizontally extending bases or flanges24 which afford supports upon which the columns of plates rest and alongwhich said plates are advanced one by one lnwardly from column B tocolumn B of the stacked plates. The lower ends of carrying plate.

the vertical guides 24, 24B and the rail 60 are in a plane slightlyabovethe platform ,or support afforded bythe horizontal upper surface of therunners, the crevice thus provided being of about the thicknesss of a,

of the magazine organization by screws 03' passing through said railsand up into the said ceiling plates.

When a magazine is inserted into place,

it is fixed in position by thumb screws e passing down through therunners into the lower plate 37 of the'magazineorganization.

The magazine can be filled before insertion and once inserted, itremains in place until tion or repair.

it may be necessary to remove it for inspec- The plates are pushedinwardly from the bottom of the column B to a position be neath thecolumn B by pusher bars or pawls f 33 consisting of bars fixed inrecesses of the lower movable carrier block 33% 'which moves-in aguide-way formed by the lower plate 37 and the horizontal flange of therunner 34 of the magazine. These bars project above the block about thethickness of a plate, to engage the lowermost plate of column B restingon the supporting surface 24 of the runner. This carrier block has'aroller 40 extending into a cam groove 41 in,

the lower fixed cam plate 41*, which is'fixed tothe frame of the machinebya bracket or arm 41, so that as the magazine organization rotates withthe needle cylinder, the carpull pawls being- 26 and. the push pawls 17.

rier block will be reciprocated radially of the machine by its rollerrunning in the said cam groove. Y

When the plate has been moved inwardly into position beneath the columnBit is elevated by alifter 42 having a roller 44 running upon a fixedcam llflwhich is secured to the lower cam plate 41". This lifterconsists of a platform 42 on the inner end of the arm 42 whieh is seatedin a recess at its outer end in the lower plate of the magazineorganization, and which, as above described, is hung from the upperplate by the hangers.

or standards. The arm is held by a stud 42* extendingup through a.slightly enlarged opening of the armso .that said arm can have up anddown swinging movement.

After a toothed jacquard plate isfed over i the platform of this arm,which is then down, the roller on the lower side of the platform,running over a highpart of the fixed cam, will elevate the lifter andraise;

the same so that the plate thereon will be moved up against the bottomof the column B of the stacked plates, this lifting action alsoeffecting the raising of the entire column of plates a distance equal tothe thickness ofa plate so that the new platewill rise above the springcatches f and will be held up thereby, together with the now ele; vatedentire column of plates. These s ring catches serve to hold the platesof the co umn B. elevated above the plane of movement of the next platewhichis to be moved from beneath col column B. This space is free, theelevating or lifting platform now being down, that is, when the nextplate is advanced inwardly from column B to column The sequence ofoperations is that the.

lifter is down, and columnB is restingfon catches,leav1ng a free spaceabove lifter and umn. B to a position beneath-the below catches for thefeedingin of a new if plate from column B." This,now' takes place,whereupon the lifter elevates this new plate above the ,catchesand ofcoursein doing so, it elevates thewhole stack; Thisis doneat cam rise X.The upper plate is now withdrawn by the. ull pawls to fall down, on Wcolumn. B. T is lifter now rises at the second cam incline and pressesthe whole column upagainst theceiling. This means that the ends oftheuppermost )late are pressed up against the edges at b 0 up- I 7 perguide rails b. This may take place,i. .e.,

the upward "pressure, either simultaneously with or after the upperplate has been pushed inward; against the needle cylinder.

In any event, it holds the toothed plate while thejacks are operatingthereagain'st.

After this action takes place,.the lifter. falls.

The said uppermost plate-is fed .by the pusher pawls up to the needle.ibed. Here said plate is in position so that as the needle jacks 3 risethey will engage the teeth of the plate, provided a tooth; lies the patholi thecam; edge 12 of the jack. Such jack, which engages a tooth asjust mentioned. will be which find spaces between the teeth of the platein line therewith will passu p through these spaces, or rather these caminclines Wlll do so, with the result that these jacks will not bedisengaged fromthe cam 6 and buried 1n their grooves, but will performtheir full up ward strokes under the action of saidcam 6, thus movingthe corresponding needle high enough to be engaged by the needleadvancing cam for knitting, asset forth 1n the application referred to.

In order to provide stops against wh ch the uppermost plate of the stackwlll strike when advanced from the stack to the circle of jacks, Iprovide brackets 7 screwed to the ceiling of the machine frame, i. e.,to the underside of the plate 28, which bracket has a flange 8 extendingat an angle of between the adjacent or meeting ends of the upper guiderails. These flanges 8 form stops, which limit the Inward or advancemovement of the toothed plates and prevent them from striking the needlecylinder and scoring it. I

Gther stops are also provided for arresting the plates when they reachproper position beneath the stack B. 7 These stops consist of blocks 9having upstanding portions 10 in the path of the plates when they aremoved from the column B to position beneath the column B; These stopspresent faces inclined at- 45" to the direction of'movement of theplates and the inclined edges'll of the plates come against these in thearrest-ing action. These stop members are screwed at 13 to the plate 37.r

The guides will serve as stops against outward displacementof thelowermost plate of column B.

In Fig. 1 is shown a single mark of identification at m. This mayconsist of a notch asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 8. All the plateswhich have this mark belong in the same stack. Fig. 1 shows a. platewhich belongs in another stack and to iden-.

tify this plate it is provided with two notches m similar to the notchm. These notches are found in the rear edge of the plate. By this meansany plate, upon inspection, can

be identified as belonging to either one stack or the other.

I claim: 1. In combination with .a needle bed, a stack of unattachedtoothed plates for controlling the action of the needles, means formoving said plates individually from the stack to needle controllingposition at the I needle bed and for retracting said plates in'-dividually tot-ake their places in the stack, and a magazine carrying,the stack of plates removably mounted on the machine, to be handled withsaid stack of plates as one body in placing it into or removing it fromposition inthe machine.

2, In'combinatioma needle bed, a series of plates stacked intwo columns,means for moving the/lowermost plate from one column to apositionbeneath the other column, means for moving the uppermost plateof the last mentioned column to needle controlling position, and forretracting said plates to position above the first mentioned column,

a lifter for the plates, and a magazine removably mounted on the machineand carry ing the two columns of plates, said plate moving means beingsupported independently of the magazine' U 3. A knitting'machineaccording to claim 1, having guide rails on which the magazine isslidably mounted torplacing or removing,

4. A knitting machine according to claim 1 having upper and lowerplates, guide rails removably attached to the upper: plates, guidegrooves in the lower plate, said magazine at its upper part slidably'engaging the rails and having runners slidably engaging the grooves,substantially as described.

5. A knitting machine according to claim 1 in which the magazine is madeup of two side walls connected rigidly together by a cross brace, andhaving vertical guides on said side walls for-the plates and havinglower rails upon which the plates are supported and slide, substantiallyas described.

LII

ion

6. A knitting machine according to claim Lin which the magazine is madeup of two side walls connected by a cross brace, and

which move the plates, substantially as 'described.

8. In combination in a knitting machine,

a series of unattached toothed plates for controllingthe operation ofthe needles, means formoving the plates individually to and from astack, said meansincluding a device .for moving the plates into positionbeneath the stack, a lifterfor moving the plates individually againstthe bottom of the stack,

' and detent means for receiving the plates from the lifter and forsupporting the stack above the plane of movement of the said platemoving device, substantially as described.

9. A knitting machine according to claim 8 in which the device formoving the plates beneath the stack consistsofunyielding bars orshoulders engaging the plates.

10. In combination with a needle cylinder,

toothed plates for controlling the operation of the needles,magazinesior said plates ar-' ranged on ditferent'radii means for movingthe plates to and from the cylinder, and stops to arrest the inwardmovement of the plates, and prevent them from striking the cylinder,said stops being arranged between adjacent magazines, each sto servingtwo of said magazines, substantial y as described;

In testimony whereof, Iafiix my signature. r

KENNETH Howie.

